Week 17 of the college basketball AP rankings were released on Monday afternoon. Here are the biggest winners and losers.
The season is moving along faster than anyone could have predicted. College basketball is in its final week of the regular season for most leagues while others may even be starting their conference tournaments this week.
Week 16 was not void of winners and losers, though. There were plenty of upsets and moves in the college basketball poll. In fact, the No. 1 team in the country who was undefeated dropped a home game to an unranked opponent, something no one saw coming.
Like most weeks over the past month, the top 10 will look extremely different this week as six teams dropped in upset fashion. As for the Top 25, two teams bowed out while a couple made a surprise entrance.
Take a look at the biggest winners and losers from the Week 17 college basketball rankings release.
Loser: Gonzaga Bulldogs (No. 1 down to No. 4)
For the No. 1 team in the country to lose a game against an unranked opponent and only drop to No. 4 — that’s not all bad. The Gonzaga Bulldogs dropped just three spots in the rankings, but they may have just played themselves out of a No. 1 seed with the loss to BYU on their home floor.
While that may not seem like a huge deal, No. 2 seeds have been known to lose to 15-seeds over the past few years and even Michigan State felt as if it was deserving of a No. 1 seed last season before losing to a surprisingly solid Middle Tennessee team in the first round. So if you think that getting a No. 2 seed isn’t the end of the world, it could spell an early end to the season.
Gonzaga had a chance to finish its regular season with a perfect 30-0 record heading into the conference tournament, but BYU was playing hungry. That loss could hurt the Bulldogs’ momentum in the conference tourney and we will see how they play with a huge target on their backs and Saint Mary’s lurking again.